


Parental Concern

by NerdofSpades



Category: Trollhunters (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen, Honesty is the best pollicy, Jim tells Barbara, Originally Posted on FanFiction.Net, Post-Darklands, Trauma, discussion of trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-10
Updated: 2018-09-10
Packaged: 2019-07-10 16:59:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15953642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NerdofSpades/pseuds/NerdofSpades
Summary: Barbara has been worried and concerned and terrified for her little boy. But this was different, something had changed. Something had gone horribly wrong in those twenty-four hours, and she wasn't going to let this go anymore. And Jim wasn't going to fight her on it.





	Parental Concern

Barbara was more than just concerned. Yes, she had been worried when Jim had first started acting strange around the time he auditioned for Romeo and got the part, and absolutely terrified when he landed himself in the hospital and wouldn’t talk to her about it. Yes, she was a bit confused when he started acting like a different person these past few weeks. He hadn’t been able to put together a decent meal since she got back from the hospital and sometimes called her “Doctor L” among other odd behaviors. She tried her best to brush all of that off. It was concerning, but not as concerning as the mess with the hospital. Then things changed again.

Just as she was beginning to actually adjust to Jim’s new quirks he came home one day and hugged her. He acted like he hadn’t seen her in forever. He hugged her long and hard. He hadn’t done that since… middle school? Elementary? She wasn’t sure, but it was definitely a long time ago. That wasn’t the worst part. When he hugged her, she could feel his bones and just how thin he was under his clothes. Certainly thinner than when she had last seen him. He was pale, too. Like he hadn’t been in the sun in weeks.

Then she noticed other little things. He was always tired, had trouble with certain tasks, stared at things like he was seeing them for the first time. He had nightmares regularly. He didn’t think she heard him whimper and scream in his sleep, but she did. He was far more cheery than she had seen him in a long time. He was even excited to go to school in the morning. When questioned, he responded with “better chipper than dead.”

Eventually she decided to start with the easy things. He was malnourished and seemed to have a vitamin deficiency… or a few. She started him on a multivitamin after the first day. Once she was sure he was taking them, she started buying heavier and more calorie dense foods for Jim’s cooking. She knew, after watching him dive head first into even the simplest of tasks that he would never let her into the kitchen again if he got his way. It was far easier to just subtly encourage certain behaviors by limiting the ingredients he had available. She needed to make sure he was physically well before she could do anything else. And she refused to leave his mental health alone any longer. Especially since his good mood seemed to be evaporating rather quickly. The stress was piling on again. She needed to get him to talk to her.

“Jim?” She called as she heard the door open.

“Yeah, Mom?”

She set down the book she had been reading in the living room and stood to great her son at the door. He was looking better now. His skin wasn’t nearly as pale as it had been that day, and he was starting to fill out and gain back some of his mysteriously lost weight and energy, but he still had a long way to go before he was back to a healthy weight. “We need to talk, Jim, and, no, it can’t wait.”

Jim frowned but didn’t argue for once. He put his bag on the end of the banister like he always did and followed her into the dining room. They sat facing each other and Jim fidget as Barbara watched him.

“So, uh, what exactly-”

“I’m worried about you, Jim.”

“Mom, we’ve been over this. I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not.” Barbara sighed. “Jim, I thought things were a little weird lately, but I brushed that off. It wasn’t anything dangerous, as far as I could tell. Then, one day you come home looking like you haven’t seen the sun or had a decent meal in weeks-”

“Okay, yeah-”

“When you had been perfectly healthy the night before.”

Jim couldn’t meet her eyes. Barbara knew now, that Jim knew exactly what had happened and was refusing to tell her. Again.

“After whatever it was,” she continued, “that happened out in the forest and put you in the hospital, I was resigned to quietly helping you try and get back to full health. I knew you weren’t going to talk to me about that, so I just gave you what you needed. You let me do that, so I did. But I know that’s not the end of it.”

Jim’s eyes snapped back to his mother’s. Now they were wide. Barbara wasn’t sure if it was fear or surprise. Probably both, if she was being honest with herself. And that hurt all the more. She knew there was a stigma around mental illness, but she had hoped her son knew her better than that.

“You’ve been acting like… like you’re seeing everything for the first time. You acted like electricity and plumbing were miracles of modern invention. I’ve seen you just sit and watch the sunrise and clouds and stars for the first time in your entire life. You take pleasure in every little normal thing. And all of that is great!”

“Then why are you so concerned?” Jim interrupted.

“Because of why. Because you’re also paranoid and keep your back to the wall. Because you scream at night and flinch away from contact. Because you jump at any sudden movement or noise. Because I don’t know how this is possible.

“You might not have been ‘fine,’ but before you were managing. You had your mask. And then you come home, looking and acting like you had been gone for weeks or months alone, surrounded by people who want you dead, with little to no food. All within twenty-four hours of the last time I saw you. If that even was you!”

Jim’s mouth opened and shut a few times before he sighed and slumped, his head in his hands. Barbara waited. She was closer now than she had been in a long time. Jim’s walls were finally starting to come down. She wasn’t going to rush him any more than she absolutely had to.

“I should start at the beginning,” he finally said. “You- you wouldn’t understand otherwise.”

Barbara nodded. The beginning was generally a good place to start.

“I- I didn’t want to worry you. That’s why I didn’t tell you. Why I hid it. I- I was afraid you’d get involved and get hurt. I couldn’t stop Toby and Claire. Not once they knew. I couldn’t put you in that kind of danger-”

“Jim,” Barbara interrupted gently, “it’s my job to worry, and you probably worried me more by not telling me. All I could do was watch you struggle and assume the worst. And I can take care of myself, Jim. If you and your friends are in danger, we can get you help. We can talk to the police and-”

“No!” Jim yelped. “No police. It- it’s not something they could help with.”

Barbara studied him for a moment, then nodded. “No police. But I still want to help you. I know how to fight, and I don’t want any of you hiding injuries from me. I’m a doctor, Jim, I can help.”

Jim nodded slowly.

“Now, weren’t you going to start at the beginning.”

Jim nodded again, firmer this time. “I- Have you ever heard of trolls?”

“You mean those plastic dolls with the hair?”

“No. I mean creatures of stone that live underground. They… you know what, give me a second.” Jim stood up and pulled the drapes closed, before slipping into the kitchen for a second, only to reappear with a pitcher of water and a few cups. “Mom, just don’t freak out, okay? Draal!”

Barbara opened her mouth to ask what “Draal” meant but stopped when she heard something moving downstairs. She couldn’t be sure who or what, but it was definitely heave, judging by how the stairs creaked as it moved up them. She rose to her feet and slipped her hand into her pocket, grasping her pepper spray. “Get behind me, Jim.”

The basement door opened.

“Relax, Mom-”

“What is it, Trollhunter?” the thing said in a deep gravelly voice as it rounded the corner and became visible.

Barbara was aiming and releasing her weapon long before she processed anything about him other than “large.” As he fell backwards and screamed, she noticed his blue “skin” and massive spikes on his back, arms, and head. As Jim knocked her arm away and yelled for her to stop, she noticed his metal arm and the intricate markings carved into his hide and the places that looked suspiciously like battle scars. She stopped, but she didn’t relax. Her son knew this creature. This warrior. If he hurt anyone, she wouldn’t hesitate. But Jim was checking him over, asking if he was alright. Jim treated him like a friend.

“Who? What?”

“Mom, this is Draal.” Jim gestured at the groaning lump on her dining room floor. “He’s a friend.”

“What!? He- Jim! Friends don’t hang out in your basement!”

Jim shrugged. “Well, Draal does.”

“Gah,” the creature, Draal, spoke, “what is that?”

“Pepper spray,” Jim answered, “you scared her.”

“And, why, Trollhunter, am I in this position again?” Draal was blinking and pulling himself up into a sitting position. Barbara winced at the thought of the damage his spikes had undoubtedly done to her floor.

“I was trying to introduce her to the concept of trolls. I didn’t expect her to attack.”

“Ah, so you are finally telling your mother about your duties?”

“His _duties!?”_

“Right, Mom, Draal is a troll. Normally they live underground. Under Arcadia is a place called Heartstone Trollmarket, which is a large settlement of trolls. It, and trolls as a whole, are a secret. Humans aren’t supposed to know.”

“And I suppose I’m just supposed to believe you stumbled across all of this by accident?”

Jim shrugged. “I kinda did. I got involved when I found this.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a medallion. The central backing glowed blue and the casing and gears seemed be made of some white-ish metal Barbara couldn’t identify. The metal bits had intricate carvings on them, some of which seemed to be letters. “This is the Amulet of Daylight. It, uh, it chooses who becomes the next Trollhunter. The Trollhunter’s job is to protect trolls and humans from a group of trolls called Gumm-Gumms and to keep the two worlds separate.”

“Didn’t Draal call you ‘Trollhunter’?”

“Indeed. Your son has proven himself to be quite capable of bearing the mantel that has been passed to him.”

“Jim!”

“Relax, Mom, it’s not like they expect me to do everything alone. And they trained me, too.”

“You’re a teenager! A child! You shouldn’t need to protect anyone! You should be… be playing games and hanging out with friends and dating, not looking after a bunch of trolls!”

Jim was silent for a second. “I should be. But once the Amulet’s chosen, there’s not much you can do about it.”

“There has to be some way out!” Barbara turned to Draal. “Tell him! Tell him there’s a way out!”

Draal’s eyes went wide and flicked between Barbara and her son. “There is a way,” he said slowly, “but it is not advisable. Or preferred. I do not believe any Trollhunter has… willingly taken that path.”

“It can’t-”

“I have to die, Mom.”

Barbara froze. That couldn’t be. There had to be another way.

“The Amulet bonds to the Hunter. They can’t reject it and it won’t choose another until they die. The only way out of being the Trollhunter is death.”

Barbara stared at her son. The thought of her son- She couldn’t think of it. “But-”

“There is no other way, Bah-bu-ra.”

Barbara shot the lump on her floor a glare. “It’s Doctor Lake to you.”

Draal’s eyes went wide again and he nodded swiftly.

“I still don’t think you should be doing this. Can’t you just let someone else handle it until you’re older?”

Jim flinched slightly. “I suppose we could have worked out something like that, but-”

“But, what, James Lake Junior. Don’t you dare start holding back now.”

“If he had done that he would still be fighting for even an ounce of respect from Trollmarket and the Tribunal,” Draal interrupted. “As the first human Trollhunter, he already had much to deal with. Refusing to fight would only have made matters worse for him in the long run.”

“And in order for me to have actually been safe and avoid any fighting, I would have had to disappear,” Jim added. “Having the Amulet makes me a target. The only place they wouldn’t be able to get me would be Trollmarket. Trollmarket put up with me because they had to, in the early days, and Toby because where I went, he went. They wouldn’t have put up with all of us just moving in.”

“Fine,” Barbara conceded. “But we are going back to that later. Right now, I still want to know what happened to you.”

Jim nodded slightly. “Like you noticed, I was gone for… awhile. You didn’t realize until after I came back because Toby was using a mask that allowed him to take my place. To look like me. All he had to do was make strategically timed appearances and try not to say anything stupid.”

“How long, exactly?”

“... Two weeks.”

“And where did you go?”

“I think I’m going to leave now,” Draal interrupted as he rose. “You two enjoy your… family bonding.”

Barbara ignored him.

“I- I went to the Darklands. It- It’s kinda like a prison for a troll named Gunmar and his army. He’s the King of the Gumm-Gumms.”

“And you just went in there! At least tell me you brought someone with you!”

Jim didn’t answer.

Barbara was horrified. “Why. Why did you go? Why alone?”

“I- Claire’s brother was in there. And we’d just lost Aaarrrgghh. I couldn’t stand the thought of losing anyone else.”

Barbara pulled her son into a tight hug. He sounded broken. Defeated. So tired of holding the world on his shoulders. _Young Atlas._ Did Walt know? She was almost certain he did, but how did he fit into everything? Humans weren’t supposed to know. That could wait. Her son was more important than Walter Strickler.

After a moment of silent comfort, Barbara pulled away again. “You said Claire’s brother was in the Darklands?” Jim nodded. “How did he get there? Why didn’t I hear about him going missing? He had to have been gone at least as long as you were.”

“There’s also something called a changeling,” Jim started slowly. “They replace human babies and can take their form. They work for Gunmar as spies and agents in the human world. Enrique got replaced with a changeling. I promised Claire I would go get him.”

Barbara raised an eyebrow at that. “Claire’s a strong young woman. I don’t see her letting you go on a rescue mission for her family without her.”

Jim nodded slightly. “The original plan was to go in as a team. But after everything…” he trailed off.

Barbara pulled him in close again as the tears started to fall. Walt had really gotten it right when he called Jim “Young Atlas.” Barbara held her son as he cried, running her hand through his hair and murmuring quietly to try and comfort him.

“Jim?” she spoke minutes later as the tears came to a stop.

“Yeah?” God, he sounded hoarse.

“I know we’re skimming over a lot of details, but that can wait for when you’re ready to tell me.” Jim gave a watery laugh. “But I have one more question.” Jim nodded against her. “Is Mr. Strickler a changeling.”

Jim went still in her arms. Then he nodded. “Yeah. I didn’t know until after he started seeing you. He- he did a lot of things.”

“So, when you said he seemed ‘two faced’?”

“That was just after I found out.”

“How- how bad was it?”

“He tried to kill me. He put you in danger. Used you to keep me from hurting him.” The hurt in Jim’s voice matched the few times she’d heard him talk about James. Walt had been Jim’s favorite teacher, maybe more than just that, and he did this.

“If I ever see him again…”

Jim chuckled softly. “Feel free to hit him as hard as you want. We probably won’t be seeing him again anyway.”

“There’s a but in there. I can hear it. Spit it out.”

“I still hope he could change. He seemed to be changing the last time I saw him.” He shrugged. “Then again, looks can be deceiving.”

Barbara squeezed a little tighter. “I am never letting him hurt you again.”

Jim laughed softly as he pulled away and glanced at the clock and groaned. “I’m going to be so late for training.”

“I’m sure they won’t mind if you’re a little late. I can give you a lift, too.”

Jim grinned. “And I can show you around Trollmarket. If you want.”

“How about we take some time to think about this. I’ll visit next time. Okay?”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“So, where do we need to go.”

“The canals.”

“The canals?”

“Yeah!” Jim was already heading for the door, grabbing his bag on the way. “C’mon, Mom, I’m already late!”

Barbara laughed to herself and followed. Things were going to be better now that she could actually support her son in his crazy life. So much better.


End file.
